Refrigerant vapor compression systems are well known in the art and commonly used for conditioning air to be supplied to a climate controlled comfort zone within a residence, office building, hospital, school, restaurant or other facility. Refrigerant vapor compression systems are also commonly used in refrigerating air supplied to display cases, merchandisers, freezer cabinets, cold rooms or other perishable/frozen product storage area in commercial establishments.
Refrigerant vapor compression systems are also commonly used in transport refrigeration systems for refrigerating air supplied to a temperature controlled cargo space of a truck, trailer, container or the like for transporting perishable/frozen items by truck, rail, ship or intermodally. Refrigerant vapor compression systems used in connection with transport refrigeration systems are generally subject to more stringent operating conditions due to the wide range of operating load conditions and the wide range of outdoor ambient conditions over which the refrigerant vapor compression system must operate to maintain product within the cargo space at a desired temperature. The desired temperature at which the cargo needs to be controlled can also vary over a wide range depending on the nature of cargo to be preserved. The refrigerant vapor compression system must not only have sufficient capacity and, refrigerant charge to rapidly pull down the temperature of product loaded into the cargo space at ambient temperature, but also operate efficiently at low load with excess refrigerant charge when maintaining a stable product temperature during transport. Additionally, transport refrigerant vapor compression systems are subject to vibration and movements not experienced by stationary refrigerant vapor compression systems. Thus, the use of a conventional refrigerant accumulator in the suction line upstream of the compressor suction inlet to store excess refrigerant liquid would be subject to sloshing during movement that could result in refrigerant liquid being undesirably carried through the suction line into the compressor via the suction inlet thereto.
Traditionally, most of these refrigerant vapor compression systems operate at subcritical refrigerant pressures and typically include a compressor, a condenser, and an evaporator, and expansion device, commonly an expansion valve, disposed upstream, with respect to refrigerant flow, of the evaporator and downstream of the condenser. These basic refrigerant system components are interconnected by refrigerant lines in a closed refrigerant circuit, arranged in accord with known refrigerant vapor compression cycles, and operated in the subcritical pressure range for the particular refrigerant in use. Refrigerant vapor compression systems operating in the subcritical range are commonly charged with fluorocarbon refrigerants such as, but not limited to, hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), such as R22, and more commonly hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), such as R134a, R410A, R404A and R407C.
In today's market, greater interest is being shown in “natural” refrigerants, such as carbon dioxide, for use in air conditioning and transport refrigeration systems instead of HFC refrigerants. However, because carbon dioxide has a low critical temperature, most refrigerant vapor compression systems charged with carbon dioxide as the refrigerant are designed for operation in the transcritical pressure regime. In refrigerant vapor compression systems operating in a subcritical cycle, both the condenser and the evaporator heat exchangers operate at refrigerant temperatures and pressures below the refrigerant's critical point. However, in refrigerant vapor compression systems operating in a transcritical cycle, the heat rejection heat exchanger, which is a gas cooler rather than a condenser, operates at a refrigerant temperature and pressure in excess of the refrigerant's critical point, while the evaporator operates at a refrigerant temperature and pressure in the subcritical range. Thus, for a refrigerant vapor compression system operating in a transcritical cycle, the difference between the refrigerant pressure within the gas cooler and refrigerant pressure within the evaporator is characteristically substantially greater than the difference between the refrigerant pressure within the condenser and the refrigerant pressure within the evaporator for a refrigerant vapor compression system operating in a subcritical cycle.
It is also common practice to incorporate an economizer into the refrigerant circuit for increasing the capacity of the refrigerant vapor compression system. For example, in some systems, a refrigerant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger is incorporated into the refrigerant circuit as an economizer. U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,729 discloses a subcritical refrigerant vapor compression system for a transport refrigeration unit incorporating a refrigerant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger into the refrigerant circuit as an economizer. The disclosed system also includes a suction modulation valve (SMV) for throttling refrigerant flow to the suction inlet of the compressor and an intermediate pressure-to-suction pressure unload circuit for compressor capacity control. U.S. Pat. No. 7,114,349 discloses a refrigerant vapor compression system with a common economizer and liquid-suction heat exchanger interdisposed in the refrigerant circuit downstream of the condenser with respect to refrigerant flow and upstream of the evaporator with respect to refrigerant flow. Through various bypass lines and manipulation of various open/closed solenoid valves associated with the bypass lines, the common heat exchanger may be operated either as an economizer heat exchanger or as a liquid-suction heat exchanger. U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,750 discloses a subcritical refrigeration system that includes a first refrigerant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger economizer and a second refrigerant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger economizer disposed in series in the refrigerant circuit between the condenser and the evaporator.
In some systems, a flash tank economizer is incorporated into the refrigerant circuit between the condenser and the evaporator. In such case, the refrigerant leaving the condenser is expanded through an expansion device, such as a thermostatic expansion valve or an electronic expansion valve, prior to entering the flash tank wherein the expanded refrigerant separates into a liquid refrigerant component and a vapor refrigerant component. The vapor component of the refrigerant is thence directed from the flash tank into an intermediate pressure stage of the compression process. The liquid component of the refrigerant is directed from the flash tank through the system's main expansion valve prior to entering the evaporator. U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,123 discloses a subcritical vapor compression system incorporating a flash tank economizer in the refrigerant circuit between the condenser and the evaporator. U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,980 discloses a transcritical refrigerant vapor compression system incorporating a flash tank economizer in the refrigerant circuit between the gas cooler and the evaporator.
As noted before, transport refrigerant vapor compression systems are subject to vibration and movements not experienced by stationary refrigerant vapor compression systems. Thus, refrigerant liquid collecting in the lower portion of a flash tank economizer could be subject to sloshing during movement that might result in refrigerant liquid being entrained in the refrigerant vapor collecting within the flash tank above the refrigerant. Additionally, during certain operating modes, for example during temperature pull down of the cargo box following initial start-up or during of temperature control operation to a high temperature set point, excessive refrigerant mass flow through the flash tank could result in a high level of refrigerant liquid with the flash tank Any liquid refrigerant carried over in the refrigerant vapor passing from the flash tank into the compression process could be detrimental to compressor performance, as well as adversely impact system capacity and efficiency.